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“Sometimes working with people… you don’t please them, and it creates this shadow of doubt. With Leonard [Cohen] there was never any shadow. He was always like, ‘Try again.’ That’s generous in a way that I’ve never experienced.” Patrick Leonard

The first song we wrote together was called Show Me the Place from 2012’s Old Ideas. It was a Stephen Foster-type melody—that’s how the lyrics struck me. We recorded it, he put a vocal on it, and the next day, he said to me, ‘I wonder if anybody ever asked the guy who wrote Amazing Grace if he had anything else?’ Obviously, I hadn’t written Amazing Grace, but it was him saying, ‘This is good. I like this.’ When I sent him Slow [from 2014’s Popular Problems], he responded with one word: ‘Done!’ And when it wasn’t right—and many, many times it wasn’t—I wouldn’t hear anything. No response. At first I’d say, ‘Hey, did you get what I sent you?’ And then I’d realize the message was loud and clear. Working with Leonard was a collaboration that wasn’t based on a single project. It was ongoing: ‘We’ve got to crack this one”; ‘I’m almost there with this;’ ‘What do you think of this?’ He’d say, ‘Nothing’s wasted because we recycle.’ He left behind so much stuff. Sometimes working with people, you try to accomplish something that you think is going to please them, and you don’t please them, and it creates this shadow of doubt. With Leonard there was never any shadow. He was always like, ‘Try again.’ That’s generous in a way that I’ve never experienced.

Cohencentric.com Hits Since Opening March 7, 2015

A Medical Note On The Death Of Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen’s Lost Album – Songs For Rebecca

Songs For Rebecca, a 1970s Leonard Cohen-John Lissauer project, was abruptly abandoned after several songs were recorded. Find out how it began & ended, which songs were recorded & what happened to them, and listen to a recording of a live performance of those songs: Leonard Cohen’s Lost Album: Songs For Rebecca

Leonard Cohen’s Passionate Version Of “So Long, Marianne”

Leonard Cohen has performed many versions of "So Long, Marianne." The 1993 Oslo concert rendition includes not only a radically different arrangement but also two verses not found on any album. The impact is dramatic.

Leonard Cohen On His Songs

In Memory Of Leonard Cohen

Since Leonard Cohen's death Nov 7, 2016, I've developed a list of selected articles and posts that are especially informative, gracious, interesting, or evocative. The complete list with live links can be found at In Memory Of Leonard Cohen

In Memory Of Marianne Ihlen, Leonard Cohen’s Muse

Marianne Ihlen, immortalized in “So Long, Marianne,” died July 28, 2016. She was a frequent visitor to this site and much beloved. Revealing posts about her and Leonard can be found at

The Cohen-Dylan Interface

The only moment that you can live here comfortably in these absolutely irreconcilable conflicts is in this moment when you embrace it all and you say 'Look, I don’t understand a fucking thing at all – Hallelujah!'

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen’s Montreal

The best articles about Leonard Cohen’s Montreal homes and haunts as well as videos and a list of pertinent landmarks.